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Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Review

The following review contains minor spoilers for Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. It was reviewed from the Nathan Drake Collection, as remastered by Bluepoint Games.

Reviewing a game that first came out eight years ago is not
an easy task. With the benefit of hindsight, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune is a
necessary stepping stone into what would, in the following two games, become a
stellar series. However, without looking at the two following games, Nathan
Drake’s first adventure is one that could use a little of that Naughty-Dog-polish
that we’ve come to love and expect.

As the game begins, the first thing that anyone will notice
is how gorgeous the remaster is, and what a fantastic job Bluepoint has done in
bringing everything up to present-day standards, save a few textures that
pop-in and out – although I do wonder if these are remnants of the original
game and not the fault of the remaster. However, what they’ll also notice as
the tutorial and introduction begin is how clunky everything feels.

This, unfortunately, carries on throughout the whole game,
yet is particularly evident in moments where a huge stream of enemies is coming
at Drake, and the player is tasked with dispatching all of them. For a game
that relies so heavily on combat, it really isn’t anything to write home about
and it’s hard to explain exactly why that
is to a person who hasn’t played it.

However, as I mentioned, this weakness only really comes
through in the larger battle sequences, where wave after wave of enemy attack
Drake. While the premise of these is very cool – and the reality isn’t all that
bad – the frequency in which they occur until the game nears its end makes them
always feel rather samey and not – as they should be – at all special. This
also has a knock-on effect on the combat, making it all feel rather recycled
and meaning there isn’t very much new material injected into it, save the
addition of new weapons every-so-often.

Despite this, Drake’s Fortune is a lot of fun to be a part
of, and I think this is largely down to the characters which it harbours. Nate,
Elena and Sully are tremendous protagonist and ones which are superbly acted by
Nolan North, Emily Rose and Richard McGonagle (respectively). I think Naughty
Dog’s decision to use motion capture (as they have in every game they’ve made
since) is one that pays off and really enhances the performance given by all of
the actors: it helps make everything feel just that little bit more real.

I also love that the game doesn’t take itself too seriously,
something that is very refreshing in a time when many games seem afraid to let
the characters joke around, in fear that it will detract from the experience. I’m
sure that in many cases this would be the case, but Uncharted is an ideal place
for this kind of thing: and we get it in bucket-loads. Whether it be a small
quip from Drake to himself, or a joke he makes with Elena: they all add up, make
the player feel included and – most importantly – are funny and definitely
welcome.

You’ll notice that I haven’t talked about the story at all
yet. Still, even after (spoilers) a month a three-quarters since I finished the
game, I’m not sure how I feel about it. It’s not that it isn’t there – because it
certainly is – it’s just that it doesn’t seem particularly prevalent, and often
sits on the back burner when the aforementioned battles are rolled out. This
means that what is actually a very good and substantial story is often
forgotten about, in favour of the much-weaker (in comparison) combat, which is
a shame.

Avoiding spoilers, I have to applaud Naughty Dog in their
excellent character development for Elena, and the fact that Nate and Sully
feel so established already. I think this is testament to great writing, and is
something that really shines through.

However, something I enjoyed less about the story were the
main enemies, who don’t become obvious until near the end. Without going into
too much detail, they’re remnants of people who came to the island on which the
game is set and who turned into weird, slightly-mythological beings that are
actually, despite their faults, quite scary. What I dislike about them is their
inclusion in the game. I really wish Naughty Dog had stayed away from the
supernatural, and leant more toward realism.

Now, at last, we arrive at one of the biggest problems, and
something that seems to affect every instalment in the Uncharted franchise: the
camera. Like the combat, it’s mostly fine,
but on occasion, especially when semi-fixed, it can be hard to see where
exactly one needs to go. This affects the whole game in places and really does
take away from an otherwise incredible experience. Perhaps Naughty Dog should
have followed Elena’s advice with a camera and let the player simply “point and
shoot”.

Another huge problem – and one which is now infamous – is the
addition of the “Jet-Ski” missions, where the player has to traverse rapids in
a jet-ski. They’re frustrating, not at all fun and add nothing to the overall
game. Let me break from my policy of not including the other two games in this
review as I let you know that they most certainly do not appear again.